Install Lizmap yourself or go with managed Lizmap hosting

What you need to install Lizmap

Lizmap Web Client is open source software developed by 3Liz. It does not work alone: it displays in the browser QGIS projects that QGIS Server renders. Installing Lizmap therefore means assembling several components and getting them to talk to each other.

• A Linux server sized for QGIS Server, which mostly uses CPU and memory when rendering maps.
• A web server and PHP for Lizmap Web Client itself.
• QGIS Server in a version compatible with your team's QGIS Desktop, plus the Lizmap server plugin, which the Lizmap documentation lists as required.
• PostgreSQL and PostGIS if your data is not only files, which is the case as soon as several people edit or share layers.
• A domain name and an HTTPS certificate, renewed before it expires.
• The Lizmap plugin in QGIS Desktop, on the workstation, to configure each project before publishing.

Installing Lizmap yourself, step by step

The 3Liz documentation describes the installation in detail, and ready-made container images exist. For someone comfortable with Linux administration, a first map online usually takes one to a few days. The main steps:

1. Rent or prepare a server and secure it (firewall, system updates, key-based access).
2. Install QGIS Server and the Lizmap server plugin (on the server only, never in QGIS Desktop), then check that it answers WMS requests.
3. Install Lizmap Web Client, the web server and PHP, and connect Lizmap to QGIS Server.
4. Point the domain name to the server and obtain an HTTPS certificate.
5. Create a project folder, add a QGIS project configured with the Lizmap plugin, and set permissions in the Lizmap administration.
6. Set up backups, monitoring and, if needed, a PostGIS database reachable from QGIS Desktop.

Version numbers and exact dependencies change from one Lizmap release to the next: always follow the official documentation for the version you install.

The real cost: long-term upkeep

Installation is only the beginning. A Lizmap portal in production follows three calendars: QGIS, which ships new versions regularly; Lizmap and its plugin; and the operating system's security patches. All three must stay compatible with each other.

• Versions. A project saved with a newer QGIS Desktop than the QGIS Server may display badly or not at all. The Lizmap plugin warns about mismatches, but you still need to be able to upgrade the server.
• Certificates and domain. An automatic renewal that fails silently makes the portal unreachable overnight.
• Performance. QGIS Server needs tuning: number of processes, timeouts, tile cache. Default settings rarely suit a portal used by several departments.
• Backups. Projects, files, the PostGIS database and the Lizmap configuration must be copied elsewhere, and restores tested.
• Availability. Someone has to notice when a map stops displaying, and know why.

None of this is out of reach. The question is whether your team has the time and the will to handle it every month, including while the person who installed the server is on vacation.

Securing a Lizmap installation

A Lizmap portal is a website exposed to the internet, with accounts, sometimes sensitive data and often a PostgreSQL database behind it. Securing it is part of the installation, not an optional step to postpone. Most incidents on small web servers do not come from sophisticated attacks but from forgotten basics: a default password left in place, a database port left open, an update skipped for months.

• Open only what is needed. The web (ports 80 and 443) must be reachable; the PostgreSQL database should not be reachable directly from the internet, or only over an encrypted, filtered connection.
• Key-based server access, with password login disabled, and a named account for each administrator.
• Lizmap accounts. Change the password of the administrator created at installation, and give each user the minimum rights they need.
• Patches. Regularly apply updates to the operating system, PHP, the web server, QGIS Server and Lizmap.
• Logs. Keep and review the web server and QGIS Server logs: they reveal errors, slow requests and intrusion attempts, and they are the first thing to read when a user reports a problem.

With managed hosting, the host handles these tasks; it remains up to you to set access rights to your maps properly in the Lizmap administration.

Sizing the Lizmap server

The question comes up with every installation: what machine does Lizmap need? Lizmap Web Client itself is light. What consumes resources is QGIS Server, which draws every map image on demand, and the PostgreSQL database when layers are stored in it. The load therefore depends less on the number of projects than on how they are used.

• Number of simultaneous visitors. Ten staff members viewing the same map at the same time put far more load on the server than a hundred maps opened once a month.
• Project complexity. Many labels, elaborate symbols, expressions in styles and joins cost computing time for every image.
• Rasters. Orthophotos and digital elevation models need fast disks and memory; they are best served as cached tiles.
• Printing. A layout printed at high resolution can take several seconds to compute.
• Editing. Editing forms write to PostGIS and put load on the database.

As a reference point, the published requirements for the LizPack Entreprise edition, which runs Lizmap, QGIS Server, PostGIS and GeoServer on one server, start at 4 virtual CPUs, 16 GB of memory and a 250 GB NVMe disk, and recommend 8 CPUs and 32 GB. A server dedicated to Lizmap alone can be smaller, but the disk should still be an SSD or NVMe: a spinning disk slows map rendering considerably. Memory matters too: QGIS Server runs several processes in parallel, each holding the projects it serves, so a portal with many large projects needs more memory than one with a few small ones.

These figures are the ones published for LizPack Entreprise, not a universal rule. Measure the actual load over your first months before scaling the machine up or down.

Moving from one setup to the other

The choice is not final. Because Lizmap relies on standard QGIS projects and PostgreSQL databases, you can move from a self-managed installation to managed hosting, and back. The process is the same in both directions:

1. Take inventory: QGIS projects, Lizmap configuration files, file-based data, PostGIS databases, user accounts and groups, permissions per folder.
2. Check each project in QGIS Desktop: relative paths, PostGIS connections, Lizmap plugin warnings.
3. Export the PostGIS databases with the standard PostgreSQL tools, then restore them into the new database.
4. If needed, adjust the connection settings of PostGIS layers in the projects, then save.
5. Upload projects, configurations and data to the new installation.
6. Recreate users, groups and permissions in the Lizmap administration.
7. Test each map, then point your domain name or links to the new address.

Plan an overlap period, typically a few weeks so that every regular user has had a chance to open their usual maps, during which both portals coexist: your users compare, you fix the differences, and you only switch off the old portal once the new one is validated.

Estimating administration time

The cost of a self-managed installation is measured mostly in time. To estimate it honestly, list the tasks and how often they come up, then assign them a duration in your own context:

Multiply these tasks by the hourly cost of the person doing them, add the server price, and compare with the price of managed hosting. The guide How much does an open source web GIS cost offers a complete method for this calculation.

What managed Lizmap hosting changes

Managed hosting takes care of the server side and leaves you the GIS side. With LizPack Map, LizPack's managed Lizmap hosting, an instance includes Lizmap Web Client on your subdomain over HTTPS, QGIS Server in the version chosen at deployment, a PostgreSQL and PostGIS database, and a tile cache. It is ready in about four minutes.

You still prepare your projects in QGIS with the Lizmap plugin, exactly as for a standard installation. To upload them, you use the online file manager or the free LizPack Publisher plugin, which publishes the open project without leaving QGIS. The guide Publish a Lizmap map from QGIS walks through these steps.

The result is the same Lizmap, with the same features: LizPack, an open source geospatial infrastructure, does not publish it, it installs and maintains it. Updating Lizmap and QGIS Server takes one click from the customer area; it is included from the Pro plan and costs 10 USD per component on the Free and Basic plans. The guide What LizPack does explains what is covered and what is not.

• What remains your job: preparing projects in QGIS, organizing data, setting access rights in the Lizmap administration, training your users.
• What the host takes care of: the server, the address and certificate, installing and connecting Lizmap, QGIS Server and PostGIS, updates, monitoring.
• What does not change: the formats. Your projects remain QGIS projects, your database a PostgreSQL database; you can take them back at any time.

Install Lizmap or host it: the comparison

The cost of a self-managed installation depends mostly on time spent, which is rarely counted. The guide How much does an open source web GIS cost helps with that calculation.

How to choose

Install Lizmap yourself if you have a system administrator available, if you want control over every setting, or if you want to learn how Lizmap and QGIS Server work inside. It is an excellent choice for a technical team that already runs its own infrastructure.

Choose managed Lizmap hosting if your job is GIS rather than server administration, if you want a map online this week, or if nobody can guarantee long-term upkeep. Your projects remain QGIS projects: you can always take them back and install them elsewhere, on your own servers or with another host, without converting anything.

In between, if your data must stay on your infrastructure but you do not want to assemble everything yourself, the LizPack Entreprise edition installs the same open source geospatial infrastructure on your servers, with an administration portal, sign-in through your directory, and backups.

One last recommendation, whatever you choose: write down clearly who does what. Who prepares projects, who publishes, who manages accounts, who monitors, who decides on updates. A self-managed installation without a designated owner ages quickly; managed hosting without a GIS specialist to prepare maps stays empty. In both cases, it is the human organization around the portal that makes it succeed, far more than the technology. And if you are unsure, start small: the 30-day free trial of LizPack Map lets you publish a real project and judge for yourself before committing to anything. Run it with one of your actual projects, not a demo, so the test tells you something about your own data, your own users and your own constraints.

Frequently asked questions